Las Vegas Half Marathon December 2010

My second half marathon was the Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas in December 2010. We flew out early, early on a Saturday morning arriving in Las Vegas around 8am. My racing partner in crime, T decided that since we arrived so early, we should go over and do the Great Santa Run 5K before going to the Expo.

We literally rushed over to the race site, entered, and then found a restroom to change into our Santa costumes for the race.


Sort of looks like a Santa horror movie.



Those costumes were itchy!

We're a fun group! Wheeee!

Hi, I'm Jaime. Nice to meet you!

The course was a figure 8 through a strip mall. It was totally fun but also one of the biggest wrecks I've ever experienced. Halfway through, we couldn't figure out which way was which, so we somehow found ourselves across the finish line after only 2 miles. The race wasn't timed, so I don't feel too guilty about crossing the finish line a mile early.

After the Santa run, we went to the expo to pick up our numbers and race bibs for the half marathon in the morning. Somehow, they had managed to lose my number. Out of 30,000+ runners, MY number got lost. Why can't I have those odds at the tables?! They gave me a new number which would put be in a corral with actual serious runners. Yikes!

After the expo, we checked into the hotel. We stayed at the Excalibur and had Japanese food for our pre-race carb load. Yum!




Waiting in the corrals by Mandalay Bay

The next morning, I opted to start in the slow corrals with the rest of our group. I wasn't going to risk being trampled to death by the faster runners that actually train for these sorts of races. Plus, it's more fun to wait with your friends than sit in a corral for what seems like an eternity waiting for the race to start.



Running under a giant dude's crotch!

I think this is where my tradition of taking a picture of the mile 10 marker originated.



Cool Vegas style medal

Even the back looks cool!



Celebratory mimosas!

All in all, I liked this race. Each way on the strip is about 4 or so miles, and running that in a straight line can get pretty tedious. Also, the strip is not nearly as pretty during the day. After the race, The Competitor Group that puts on all of the Rock 'n' Roll races sent out a questionnaire asking if we would rather run this race at night in 2011. Of course, I answered yes. And I did run the strip at night this year a few weeks ago...but more on that later...